


A New Outlook

by Malignant_Thorn



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Apologies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Hate to Love, Rare Pairings, Short & Sweet, fernand isn't an asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 11:06:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11160603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malignant_Thorn/pseuds/Malignant_Thorn
Summary: AU where Faye leaves the Deliverance after feeling unnoticed and disliked by the others.





	A New Outlook

Her first day as an official knight of the Rigelian army had been arduous. In fact, the only reason she lived to see the day through was out of Lady Rinea's benevolence. To Faye's relief, Rinea had taken her in as her personal retainer before any harm could befall the poor, unloved village girl. Besides, the Rigelian army's amount of clerics and even others with healing prowess were extremely scarce.

 

The new Rigelian recruit groaned in exhaustion, entering the room Rinea had kindly provided to her. Her usually clean, half-braided brown hair was dishelved, her arms scuffed and scratched from the intense training all Rigelian soldiers had to undergo. After untangling the knots in her hair and tending to her wounds, she couldn't help but collapse on her new bed in her full uniform.

 

 _Was this truly the right choice?_   she sighed to herself, a knot growing in her throat. Faye had left Alm and the rest of the Deliverance after feeling unnoticed by her childhood friends, and swept under the rug in favor of those more competent such as Lukas and Clair. She was constantly ignored, the only times people seemed to care being when they were telling her to focus when she did something out of place. The only one who seemed to genuinely care was Silque, the inspiration behind her choosing the path of a dedicated healer.

 

But curiosity distracted her desolation when Fernand came along. On their way to the Deliverance's hideout, which turned out to be a disgusting, terror-infested cave, Alm's group had first encountered Fernand, a silver-haired cavalier in polished, olive green armor embellished with other noble-like ornaments. At first, Faye despised the man for his snotty attitude and rude behavior, but when the group encountered him a second and last time, the girl's opinion changed after he had confronted Clive and abdicated from the Deliverance. She began to wonder just how different his troubles were from her's, as for one she could tell that they both felt unnoticed by their comrades.

 

That was what inspired Faye to carefully abscond from the Deliverance. Shortly after Fernand and his steed took off, Faye had secretly followed him. However, their times unknighted very shortly came to a close, as they were both captured by Slayde's men. Although Fernand and Faye's lives were spared by Prince Berkut and Lady Rinea respectively, Faye still grimly felt as if death was a better fate than to be in an army of noble, power-hungry men, only protected by the fact that they would face dire consequences if they laid a finger upon Lady Rinea's personal squire.

 

Faye buried her head into her pillow, to try and stifle her sobbing. However, her solitude ended as she felt herself jolt up by a rather stern sounding voice.

 

"Farm girl," a voice sounding like that of a man's orated.

 

The village girl felt her body shake. What fate would she succumb to if her comrades had heard her crying?

 

"Farm girl...!" the voice repeated in a rather irritated tone, followed by knocking against the door.

 

"Y-yes...?" Faye mustered up nervously, hoping the man at the door wasn't paying attention to her tone.

 

Almost immediately the door swung open. At the entrance of the room stood Fernand, still in his uniform except lacking in his signature green armor.

 

"...Well? Care to explain? Did that farmboy Alm or Lukas set you up for this foolishness? Why are you here?" Fernand interrogated the girl, ignoring her shaking, staring her dead in the eyes.

 

Faye cleared her throat, "N-no... I just," the girl forced herself to choke back tears, "...came by my own free will."

 

Fernand scoffed by such an innocent-sounding reply, "Oh, of course. You would abandon your friends and such leisure and comfort just for the thrill of it. You would leave such hospitality behind for no reason. Everything is so clear to me now."

 

"If only that were true..." Faye dourly responded, doing her best to conceal her tears from such a seemingly desensitized man.

Fernand almost found himself feeling guilty for the forlorn young woman, but anger soon seized his sensitivity once more. "And you expect me to just deal with it? I left the Deliverance in order to avoid you rustic commoners, not to be followed by one. Your actions only further show that you lowborn commoners are ungrateful even when given the hospitality of nobl--"

 

"Will you just shut up?!" Faye snapped, the tears rolling down faster than ever. Her voice grew unsteady as she broke down, "Perhaps you never took into consideration my own personal problems! My friends and I had set out based on the trust we shared between each other, but shortly after departing our village did I realize that among my friends, I was being left behind in favor of themselves. Less and less was being said to me except complaints whenever I wavered in combat... Isn't that reason alone?! But why me... why me?! My own friends since childhood leaving me behind just like that..." her voice grew louder into a strained yell, " _Why was I the lon--?!_ " her yelling subsided as she glanced up at Fernand, who was in astonishment by her sudden episode.

 

Faye's cheeks grew hot as she quickly looked down, "I mean... ugh... I'm sorry... feel free to do as you please; perhaps I am being ungrateful after all," she concluded.

 

For once in a long time, Fernand felt what could only be guilt, and a sense of comfort. That was surprisingly similar to how he was feeling when Clive began placing more attention into the non-nobles of the army, such as Lukas, Forsyth, and even Python. He felt as if _he_ was in fact being left behind in favor of those more stable and proficient than himself.

 

Faye buried her head into her knees, too distracted to question Fernand's unanticipated silence. That was until she felt herself wrapped by someone's arms. That someone could've only been Fernand, as the two were the only ones in the room.

 

"Fer...nand...?" Faye barely lifted her head, not even expressing the full extent of shock she had felt by his sudden change in behavior.

 

Fernand felt his cheeks redden, as even he was surprised by his behavior, "I apologize for the way I lashed out at you."

 

Her body's quivering dwindled, as she she felt a sense of comfort by Fernand's embrace, "But... why are you...?"

 

"Faye... while we both hold our differences, neither of us are within the comfort of our comrades anymore... and soon, we’ll be leaving our homeland behind. For just once, I'll ignore said class differences and allow us both to confide in each other for support... I don't want to witness the breaking of a youthful girl's innocence than the damage this war is already going to do to the both of us," Fernand muttered, holding the girl tighter.

 

"Ah... Fernand..." Faye sighed, a warm smile replacing her frown. Just like that, Faye fell fast asleep, followed by Fernand succumbing to his weariness as well. Although they both collapsed onto the bed, one thing didn't deviate from when they were awake. Her body was still under his caring embrace.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah how convenient that fernand doesn't go full asshole huh
> 
> I actually kinda imagined he wouldn't be as harsh on female commoners. Anyways, this was my first work here, so I hope you guys enjoyed it. Leave a comment about any pairings you like and I guess I'll look into writing some more stuff.


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